


the robot and the man

by hermanncodednewtboy



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dystopia, Lowercase, Other, there are only 2 speaking characters but still, they're all trans babey, yeah that's right there are no characters who aren't trans here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29408418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermanncodednewtboy/pseuds/hermanncodednewtboy
Summary: a man and a robot have a conversation about humanity and gender.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 1





	the robot and the man

**Author's Note:**

> the robot speaks in bold, the man speaks in italics.

The robot looks at the man, and says, _"I think if I could dream, I'd dream of humanity."_

The man hums in thought, and passes xer his cigarette.

 _"Buh-uddy, I don't have lungs,"_ xer speaker crackles and jumps like it's a word xe's not supposed to say.

**"That's good. Cigarettes do rather a lot of damage to your lungs."**

The robot holds the lit cigarette to xer speaker and watches the smoke spiral into the orange sky.

**"I dream of humanity, sometimes."**

_"You're human."_

The man laughs, rolls up his left sleeve and holds up his shirt. There is a long, rough scar on his forearm, and a jagged line running across his chest.

_**"You would truly call this human?"** _

_"Yeah,"_ xe says, _"You asked another human to hurt you, to heal you. To make your body a home. they're art, if wanna look at them like that. I dunno if there's much more human than that."_

 _ **"**_ **Thank you** _ **,"**_ he rolls down his sleeve and drops his shirt again, **"but you are an outlier to think that, my friend."**

after a pause, xe says, _"You get human pronouns."_

**"Not all of us want them. My wife does not."**

_"Per is an outlier, buddy,"_ xe passes the cigarette back. 

The man laughs again, holding the cigarette to his mouth but lowering it again without taking a draw.

 **"I do not use human pronouns, always."** he thinks for a moment. **"You could use them too, you know. If you felt so inclined."**

 _"Who'd listen if I said I did?"_ the robot says. There is no malice in xer voice. 

**"I would. So would my wife. And our friends. And their friends."**

_"Wouldn't that be dangerous? To humanise a robot?"_

**"No more dangerous than anything we do. To be monsters."**

_"Hmm,"_ the robot thinks, _"I've always kinda liked she/her."_

**"Then she/her it is, my friend."**

if her face was made for it, she would smile. As things are, she says, _"Happy."_

**"Happy."**

They sit together and watch the sky turn from orange, to pink, to blue, to black, and once the cold starts to make her joints creak and his joints crack, they stay a little bit longer in the safe darkness. Then, they go home.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm working through some feelings. please don't take any of this as literally how I feel about other trans people, or even how I feel about myself. sometimes you've just got to metaphorically jump and see if the net really does appear.


End file.
